DVD and Pal question
 

Hi all,

A question came up yesterday, and I was unsure of the answer.. If you author a DVD that was shot using NTSC in the states.. and was authored with all of the Region Codes checked on, will a Pal user in Europe be able to view that DVD on their DVD player(not computer) ???

Thanks in advance..

Mike Moncrief

NTSC playback on PAL players evolved over time with a few different schemes being used (no facility at all, PAL colorburst with 60Hz rate, PAL 50Hz output and pure NTSC)

add to that a lot of players will default to a PAL 50Hz conversion just in case the TV they're attached to isnt 60Hz capable (with any true NTSC output being a user selectable menu option)

Your best bet is to shoot 24P/23.976 and author a DVD with pulldown flags as that should give the most pleasing results across all the various methods used to handle the conversion

(on players that lock everything down to 50Hz, NTSC 60i footage can look really ropey, whereas 24P with flags will just be a teeny bit stuttery)

Thanks for responding..

I am doing Post work, and have no control of the way this was shot.. So the answer is the European DVD player may automaticly see it was an NTSC based material, and attempt to convert it?? And it may look a bit "funky" ??

Thanks,
Mike M.

People from Europe regularly report that DVD players sold there are multi-format capable. We sometimes send NTSC DVD's of our operas to foreign countries and haven't had any complaints. As for how these NTSC DVD's look on PAL TV's, I don't know.

Of course computers can play both PAL and NTSC DVD's regardless of their country of origin. When another opera company sends us a PAL DVD we watch on our computers instead of TV's. Region codes are completely different matter, they're a way for commercial distributors to limit the viewing of their products to specific countries. Unless you're trying to do that then I don't think you should use them at all.

quote :"Of course computers can play both PAL and NTSC DVD"
That is correct in theory, but practically DVD player are zone locked on computer also... and it is trickier for an average user to unlock them than for a standalone player (comes usually unzoned from shop).
The zone flag does not do anything to the video, so if your video is NTSC, people will need the hardware to play it. Fortunately in europe, probably 75% of users have this, so don't worry.
If you really want to be compatible, it would be better to add subtitle (if needed) in french/german/spanish because in europe, if many can read Zone 1 DVD, few speak english.

I live in PAL land (Australia, but we use the German TV system). I used to work in a DVD store. NTSC discs are sold here - typically music DVDs. In the early days if we sold an NTSC disc we used to warn people that their TV should be less than 10 years old. Eventually we gave up & didn't warn anyone - and we never got any complaints that an NTSC disc wouldn't play.

I'm sure you'll be safe to send an NTSC DVD to Europe.